13th Brigade

The 13th Brigade (13 Bde) is a reserve brigade-level formation of the Australian Army. The 13th Brigade mission is to Command assigned units of 13 Bde to enable provision of specified individual and collective capabilities to support, sustain and reinforce Army's Operational Force.

13th Brigade also provides the Australian Army with a Reserve Response Force and a High Readiness Reserve Combat Team which are capable of deployment at short notice with Regular Army Units or in support of civilian agencies.

The 13th Brigade is a part of the 2nd Division, Forces Command and is headquartered at Perth, Western Australia and its various units have depots in Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Albany and Katanning as well as Joondalup and Rockingham in the metro area.

The 13th Brigade was first created in early 1916 and has been recreated multiple times since. Following the evacuation of Gallipoli in December 1915 a decision was made to create three additional Australian divisions. It was decided that half of each of the battalions of the first four brigades would be used as the nucleus of the new battalions to be formed. The 3rd Infantry Brigade was divided as follows to form the 13th Infantry Brigade, 4th Australian Division. The 13th Brigade sailed from Alexandria for France on 30 March 1916 and by 20 May 1916, was established in a sector of the line at Petillon, France. The 13th Brigade is best known for their actions in retaking Villers-Bretonneux during the Second Battle of the Somme. Following the end of the war the battalion of 13th Brigade where returned home and disbanded.

The brigade was reformed in 1939 in response to the outbreak of the Second World War, up until 1942 the brigade was practically the only army unit in place to protect the Western Australian coastline from the feared Japanese invasion.

The current brigade was formed in 1988 and is tasked with the protection of Western Australia. Individuals and formations from the brigade have served in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands and domestically providing assistance with flood and bushfire reconstruction tasks.